Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Who I Am by Richie Sambora

Review of Romero Box:

One Piece of Paper, a gimmicked card box, and $60 . . . is it gem or is it rubble?

Effect

The effects possible with this are many. Watch the ad trailer for a taste. Basically, however, you have the ability to secretly switch a card (or other small flat-ish object) for another card (or other small flat-ish object). Change a card into a coin. Change the color of the back of a card. Print your business card.

The main effect written up in the instructions is a prediction effect. Write a prediction of a soon to be chosen card. Spectator shuffles the deck and places any card face down in the box for "safe keeping." They open the prediction. It says, "Nine of Diamonds" (for example). Then you remove the card cleanly and clearly from the card box to show that it is indeed the Nine of Diamonds. This is a utility device so many effects are possible with it.

Method

The ad copy clearly points out that this is the change box gimmick. This is the exact(ish) same thing. The box works quite well. However, I did have a couple of times where the gimmick got stuck, so that concerned me a little bit; but not enough to prevent me from using it. Also, the card box cannot be too closely looked at by the spectator, but that's not a bad thing; it will certainly pass muster if handled casually by the magician. Also, the spectator can slip a card into the box without noticing the gimmick.

The card box looks innocent enough and is sneaky enough to be used for secret changes or visual changes. I would likely stick to hidden/secret changes mainly because the more visual changes tend to draw attention to the box. Overall, however, this is a solid gimmick that does a good job at switching stuff.

Ad Copy Integrity

The written ad copy is just fine. There are no claims made that are not true. However, the video trailer is a little bit misleading. There are at least 2 effects that are shown on the DVD trailer that cannot be done with the box as is. One requires a second gimmick from purchasing another Romero Box. The other one requires a special gimmick that you likely do not have. It's a gimmick that allows a card to "vanish" on the back of a card box. So if you watched the trailer hoping you could do those effects, you'd be disappointed when your product arrived.

I don't have a problem with needing to buy other stuff to do certain effects with this box. However, I do have a problem with the ad copy showing those effects. They certainly lead you to believe that the effect is possible by just purchasing the product they're selling.

Product Quality

The box looks good and is well constructed, and should last quite a while. Also, your full deck of cards will still fit in the box even with the gimmick inside. There is one concern with the box, however. You'll notice in the trailer that the side of the box where the half-moon would normally be, the box is cut a bit longer allowing part of the box to sort of fold over and tuck into the box. This helps conceal the gimmick and is very effective and above suspicion in my opinion.

This "flap," however, makes opening and closing the box a bit awkward and slightly clunky. Further, the so called instructions included with this are scant at best. There are no tips, pointers, etc. for handling the box. In fact, I literally learned more about how to use the box by watching the trailer than I did by reading the instructions. They're poorly written, unclear, lost in translation, and simply 1 sheet of paper with text on both sides folded up and crammed into the card box.

The instructions are mostly bullet points for ideas for possible effects. They suggest that if you had part of the gimmick from another Romero Box that you'd be able to do a double change. Based on how the gimmick works, I'm not sure how that's possible. I'm not saying that it is not possible; in fact, it would appear that they used that method in the trailer. However, I'm not sure how the gimmick could be used to do that. There was no explanation. I think I know how it might work, but I'm not sure. They could have spent 3 more lines of text to clarify that.

Further, the written instructions claim that if you go to their FaceBook page, there are more ideas and tricks you can do with the box, found there. I went there, and the only thing I found was a whole bunch of stuff written in Spanish. It probably is other ideas, but it's all Spanish.

For $60 bucks, I would have expected more.

Final Thoughts

The gimmick is well made and has the potential to be a very valuable tool in your tool belt. However, don't expect to get much guidance from the instructions. You'll have to kind of figure stuff out on your own. Granted, that's not too difficult once you understand the gimmick. I think it's safe to say that you'll have ideas on how to use this once you see it, and the best part is that you don't have to add anything extra to the stuff you carry for your show. Just use this box as your card box, and you're set.

Final Verdict:
3 Stars with a Stone Status of gem.